Nancy Dugan lives in Altoona, Iowa. Disclosure: Dugan has filed several objections into the Summit Carbon Iowa Utilities Commission dockets in opposition to the CO2 pipeline. She has neither sought nor received funding for her work.

Late on Friday afternoon, August 23, the Iowa Utilities Commission posted a Motion to Declare the Acquisition of Certain Land Interests Noncompliant by the Bremer County Board of Supervisors. The motion was filed into Summit Carbon Solutions docket number 2024-0001 (SCS Carbon Transport LLC; Petition for Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Permit, POET – Fairbank and Shell Rock, IAL-501, IAT-401).

The motion centers on Summit Carbon’s announcement earlier this month that it had purchased land easement agreements from Navigator Heartland Greenway, LLC. According to the motion, “In 2021, Navigator Heartland Greenway (“Navigator”) proposed to route a similar carbon dioxide pipeline along a similar route in Bremer County.”

Navigator subsequently announced that it had canceled its multistate pipeline project in October 2023. An October 20, 2023, Iowa Capital Dispatch article reported that in response to Navigator’s announcement, Summit Carbon stated that it “welcomes and is well-positioned to add additional plants and communities to our project footprint.”

Bremer County’s motion included three exhibits.

Exhibit A is a Memorandum of Agreement between Grantor(s)/Owner(s) Fleshner Farms Inc. and Grantee Navigator Heartland Greenway, L.L.C. executed on June 27, 2023, and filed with the Bremer County Recorder on August 24, 2023.

Exhibit B is a Memorandum of Agreement between Grantor(s)/Owner(s) Mark O. and Ruth A. Happel and Grantee Navigator Heartland Greenway, L.L.C. executed on June 1, 2023, and filed with the Bremer County Recorder on August 24, 2023.

Exhibit C is a Memorandum of Agreement between Grantor(s)/Owner(s) Ronald W. and Kelly J. Richards and Grantee Navigator Heartland Greenway, L.L.C. executed on July 26, 2023, and filed with the Bremer County Recorder on August 24, 2023.

In support of its August 23 motion, filed by attorney Timothy J. Whipple on behalf of the county, Bremer County cited an August 16, 2024, Iowa Capital Dispatch article, which reported the following:

Summit has purchased many of Navigator’s old agreements to expand its coverage area and save itself time by not needing to negotiate new agreements.

The motion further explained, “The article indicates that Summit officials ‘confirmed’ these purchases.”

The Bremer County motion is based upon language found in Iowa Code section 479B.4. According to the motion, “On July 5, 2024, the [Iowa Utilities] Commission scheduled an Informational Meeting to be held in Bremer County on September 10, 2024.” This meeting is in accordance with Iowa Code section 479B.4(3), which states in part, “The pipeline company shall hold informational meetings in each county in which real property or property rights will be affected at least thirty days prior to filing the petition for a new pipeline.”

The motion further stated the following:

The Easement Agreements entered into by Navigator, even if they were properly entered into prior to Navigator’s informational meeting, cannot be purchased by Summit without violating the plain language of Iowa Code § 479B.4(6), which provides that “A pipeline company seeking rights under this chapter shall not negotiate or purchase an easement or other interest in land in a county known to be affected by the proposed project prior to the informational meeting.” (emphasis added).

The four-page motion concludes with the following language:

For all the reasons stated herein, Bremer County hereby moves the Commission to declare the following:

• That all easement agreements for parcels in a county that were entered into prior to Summit’s informational meeting in that county are noncompliant for purposes of Summit’s pipeline in this docket.
• That Summit must enter into new agreements with each landowner and only then after holding the required informational meeting in the county.
• That Summit’s petition for a permit in this docket will be dismissed if Summit contacts any landowners or purchases or negotiates any easement or other interest in land prior to the informational meeting in a county.
• That the Commission lacks the power to approve a route that crosses parcels where easement agreements were executed prior to the required informational meeting.

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Full text of Bremer County’s Motion to Declare the Acquisition of Certain Land Interests Noncompliant

Top image of Jean-François Millet‘s painting The Gleaners is available via Wikimedia Commons.